BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga, her provincial counterpart Mandla Makupula and their directors-general have been put on notice that they will face contempt of court proceedings and possibly jail for allegedly failing to declare and fill non-teaching posts at Eastern Cape schools.
The Legal Resources Centre yesterday confirmed they were resorting to court on behalf of the Centre for Child Law (CCL) and several schools.
They are asking the court to declare Motshekga, Makupula, and their respective DGs, Bobby Soobrayan and Mthunywa Ngonzo, to be in breach of a 2012 court order in which they were directed to declare the non-teaching post establishment for all Eastern Cape schools and to fill them by January .
Many schools in the province have been crippled administratively by a 16-year moratorium on administrative and other posts.
Special needs and boarding schools – which cannot fill cleaning, security, laundry, kitchen or various care and therapist posts – have been particularly hard hit.
CCL director Dr Ann Skelton says in an affidavit they will ask the Grahamstown High Court to give the departments just five days to heed the order to fill these posts or face contempt of court proceedings.
If they fail to heed the order within five days she wants the court to order Motshekga, Makupula, Ngonzo and Soobrayan to appear before it in person to explain what steps they will take to purge their contempt – failing which they should be fined or imprisoned.
This drastic step follows months of waiting patiently for the departments to set in motion the process of filling these posts, LRC Grahamstown director Sarah Sephton said.
“Written and verbal requests for these post allocations have been ignored .”
In an unusual step, the court has also been asked to order the four to pay the legal costs out of their own pockets on a punitive scale.
“This order must be granted for a more profound reason – to protect the dignity of this court, the effectiveness of the constitution and respect for the rule of law,” Skelton said.
She points to a report drafted by the provincial department for the court in February in which the department claimed to have approved the appointment of 6584 non-teaching staff at schools.
The department did not respond to requests for comment.
Education heads face court action
The Legal Resources Centre yesterday confirmed they were resorting to court on behalf of the Centre for Child Law (CCL) and several schools.
They are asking the court to declare Motshekga, Makupula, and their respective DGs, Bobby Soobrayan and Mthunywa Ngonzo, to be in breach of a 2012 court order in which they were directed to declare the non-teaching post establishment for all Eastern Cape schools and to fill them by January .
Many schools in the province have been crippled administratively by a 16-year moratorium on administrative and other posts.
Special needs and boarding schools – which cannot fill cleaning, security, laundry, kitchen or various care and therapist posts – have been particularly hard hit.
CCL director Dr Ann Skelton says in an affidavit they will ask the Grahamstown High Court to give the departments just five days to heed the order to fill these posts or face contempt of court proceedings.
If they fail to heed the order within five days she wants the court to order Motshekga, Makupula, Ngonzo and Soobrayan to appear before it in person to explain what steps they will take to purge their contempt – failing which they should be fined or imprisoned.
This drastic step follows months of waiting patiently for the departments to set in motion the process of filling these posts, LRC Grahamstown director Sarah Sephton said.
“Written and verbal requests for these post allocations have been ignored .”
In an unusual step, the court has also been asked to order the four to pay the legal costs out of their own pockets on a punitive scale.
“This order must be granted for a more profound reason – to protect the dignity of this court, the effectiveness of the constitution and respect for the rule of law,” Skelton said.
She points to a report drafted by the provincial department for the court in February in which the department claimed to have approved the appointment of 6584 non-teaching staff at schools.
The department did not respond to requests for comment.
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